How Drugs are Taken

(i) Inhalation

Inhaled drugs are absorbed into the blood stream across the lining of the lung.

To be effective the drug must be a gas (e.g. solvent vapours) or in the form of tiny particles suspended in a gas (e.g. cannabis or tobacco smoke).

With these particular drugs inhalation can be effective and produce effects almost as quickly as intravenous injection. As only a small amount of the drug can be taken at once, inhalation in most instances.

(ii) Injection

Injection involves puncturing the skin with a needle in order to squirt a solution of the drug directly into the bloodstream. This can be done by:

Injecting the needle under the skin: Subcutaneous

Injecting the needle into the muscle tissue: Intramuscular

Injecting the needle into a vein: Intravenous

The most rapid effects are achieved by injecting intravenously and large amounts of drugs can be taken. Because it bypasses the filtering mechanisms of the gut and mucous membranes, injection into a vein maximises the impact of the drug and results in almost immediate effects. For these same reasons it affords little protection against infections. Injecting is the most dangerous way of taking drugs.

(iii) Orally

Taking a drug orally requires the drug to be soluble in the stomach/intestinal fluids first for it then to be able to pass through the lining of the gut into the bloodstream. Some drugs are effectively inactivated by the fluids ñ heroin being an example. The slowness of the absorption process means there is no sudden intense effect and this limits the maximum blood concentration achieved. [Top]

(iv) Snorting

Drugs which are sniffed are absorbed through the nose not through the lungs.